Posting again after a long absence

[SHO307]

Hello all again!

It's been a long and VERY rough year, but I'm still around and I've decided to re-introduce myself to this forum.

I've picked up a new job in the D.C. area and will be starting that way this coming Wednesday. Anticipating a four-day drive: Colorado Springs--->Topeka KS--->O'fallon IL (Belleville or thereabouts...somewhere with a DECENT hotel)--->Indianapolis ID or Columbus OH--->Chantilly VA. The new job's with a defense contractor---one of *those* jobs. But it pays well and it looks good for professional advancement, and besides....

....despite all my best efforts, I've never been able to get the rattin' frattin' bills to pay themselves. Believe me, I've tried....they don't listen at all.

The "Ragin' Bull" will be making the trip....with a new windshield (!#@$ Colorado roads).

So....couple of questions for the whole group, anybody/everybody feel free to chip in the free advice/input:

1) Anybody want to meet up along the route? I'm probably going to be beat, especially in IL; anticipating dealing with STL rush hour traffic getting across the Poplar St bridge. But I'm open to grabbing some wings/drinks at a restaurant...I'll be next to a ******* in Topeka. Pretty close to one in Chantilly.

2) Anybody want to meet up in Chantilly? Not sure how much free time I'll have once I get there; new jobs are kinda hectic right out of the gate, but I'm sure to have SOME down time somewhere.

3) Apropos of nothing....my particular car has the adaptive CC/Tech Package stuff in it. Safelite says I should have a shop re-calibrate the sensor for that after I get the windshield replaced. Anybody with the adaptive CC/fwd collision warning ever had to do this?

So that's all for now. Hope everybody's been having a good year and equally good holidays!

 

[SHOdded]

Hey man, congrats on the new job, look forward to having you in the DC Metro Area! There are a few SHO owners out your "new way" in and around Tysons Corner, hope you will meet up with some of them, maybe at the Cars & Coffee events

Glad you're still riding the Bull. With any luck you will have less issues with rodents drawn in by environmentally friendly wiring! I haven't had issues with the windshield cracking yet over the last 4 years, but then it's an older style with no tech in/on it. Glass insurance of course good if you can swing it.

I am not too far you up by Silver Spring, MD, have family in/around Chantilly.

 

[SHO307]

Hey man, congrats on the new job, look forward to having you in the DC Metro Area! There are a few SHO owners out your "new way" in and around Tysons Corner, hope you will meet up with some of them, maybe at the Cars & Coffee events

Glad you're still riding the Bull. With any luck you will have less issues with rodents drawn in by environmentally friendly wiring! I haven't had issues with the windshield cracking yet over the last 4 years, but then it's an older style with no tech in/on it. Glass insurance of course good if you can swing it.

I am not too far you up by Silver Spring, MD, have family in/around Chantilly.

LOL...it's been awhile since the Great Rabbit Dine-in. Never did convince the USAF to pay me back for the repairs...

GEICO covered most of it, but I still had to pay the deductible and I went ahead and popped for new windshield wiper blades.

Took the car out to get groceries/misc this evening...collision sensor stayed quiet and didn't throw any trouble codes, which is a good sign. I kinda stood over the Safelite guy while he reassembled everything...that setup on the windshield is easy enough. The cover is a two-piece affair, one small piece that fits on the back of the rearview---and that piece MUST come off first, because it's hooked in to the second piece which is bigger and fits over the collision sensor/wiper rain sensor combined package. I think---emphasis on the "think", because I'm not totally sure how the electronics work---that that sensor also works with the adaptive CC that this car has. Anyway...after you've got the covers off, there's one wiring harness plug that has to be disconnected, then the entire module comes off with the rearview. Then it's safe to go ahead and take the windshield out.

Safelite used OEM Carlite/SoundScreen glass, so I don't anticipate any other problems. That original windshield was all done---numerous pits all over, pretty bad and definitely noticeable. I shudder to think what's happening to my front end paint. CO doesn't use salt for de-icing like other states, but the sand slurry that they do use has a lot of smallish pebbles in it, which means the Bull is getting media-blasted every time I hit the road in the winter.

I'll make an effort to look you up after the holidays. I'll be flying back to CO for Christmas, but then I'll be staying in VA for a while---at least a year, because the company's giving me a signing bonus to be there so I've gotta stick it out that long to avoid having to pay it back.

 

[SHOdded]

It's hard to find car washes around here that will stay open once temps hit freezing, so plan on giving Bull a good coat of sealant & such (including wheels & underbody) once you get here. Then a periodic waterless wash if you can't find a touchless wash to clean off the crap.

Def, let me know!

 

[markathome]

Congrats on the new job!
We have some very good car washes here in the Va DC metro area.

Sent from my XT1094 using Tapatalk

 

[OmaHahn]

Just curious about the route. Why not take I-80? 75mph, but more like 80-85mph with flow of traffic. Are you just taking the scenic route?

 

[SHO307]

Just curious about the route. Why not take I-80? 75mph, but more like 80-85mph with flow of traffic. Are you just taking the scenic route?

You made me stop and think for a minute....I checked it out on Google Earth just now.

I'm coming out of Colorado Springs, which is south of Denver. There's a smallish but scenic two-lane road, State Hwy 24, that runs more or less directly between COS and Limon, which is situated right on I-70. For me, going the direction I'm going, I-70 makes more sense: It's the most direct route. It looks like I-70 all the way to Maryland, then cut back south on 270 between Hagerstown and D.C., then drop down into the Chantilly area.

To go I-80, I'd have to go further north out of my way, then cut across the lower 48.

Add to all of this the fact that I'm only giving myself 4 days to make the drive (which means I'll be pressing hard), and I don't know I-80 at all, but I do know I-70 very well, at least as far as St Louis....and the routing makes more sense.

One last note: There is another route between COS and I-70, State Hwy 94, which eventually runs into Kansas and joins up with I-70 at the bottom of that weird dip that it takes after crossing the CO/KS state line going east. Distance-wise, it's even more direct than Hwy 24--->I-70. But I've taken that road before, and it's kinda creepy. Lots of very small farm town on the KS side that look really bad---bad like "Walking Dead" bad. The film crew wouldn't even have to dress up the sets---just set up the cameras and start rolling. Extremely remote, to the point where even the cellular signal dies out completely. You really feel alone out there.

Someday, when I don't care about getting somewhere on time, I'll go back to that area. But for now, I've got places to be and things to do....some other day, I guess.

 

[SHO307]

So here I am...pulled up outside Columbus OH for the night. Weather and road conditions permitting---or even if they don't---I'll be in Chantilly tomorrow night.

Wasn't bad until today; started out from Pontoon Beach IL under sunny skies, but by the time I got halfway across IL it clouded over. Spent the rest of the drive under grey gloominess. Really bad accident on I-70 in Columbus---I ended up crawling the last 10 miles to the hotel at about 5 mph.

Missing the family already. Makes me long for the days when I was single...but then life wouldn't be quite as interesting. Talk to you guys later.

 

[Threebigfords]

Drive safe.... road trips are fun, but their a lot more fun when you aren't solo. Took the family on an eleven day 4000 mile road trip last summer in the Flex, it was a blast!

Flew down solo to Mobile Alabama to pick up my F450 last April and drove it back to Seattle 3000 miles in 52 hours. Not even close to a blast.